People who find it necessary to use a wood stove for their source of heat and others who are able to enjoy the pleasure of using a fireplace, usually hate the chore of having to clean out the wood stove or fireplace finding it a very dusty procedure. Many tools and procedures have been developed for cleaning out the remaining ashes and partially charred wood segments from the wood stoves/fireplace however, none to date are relatively dust free. Customarily people use a long handled shovel, to remove these residues. Usually this is done after the fire has gone out, due to the inability to store warm residues. The ashes and smoldering embers can not be stored in a paper bag, nor in a plastic container, nor even in a metal container that houses other trash that is subject to combustion. Therefore people usually wait until the fire is out to clean out the fireplace.
On many occasions however this can be inconvenient, as the homeowner may need to use the woodstove/fireplace continuously, yet the residue from the combustion of such things as paper or cardboard boxes has built up a significant amount such that it is necessary to clean out the fireplace. Due to the possibility of fire outside of the fireplace this procedure can not be carried out.
A tool that has been used to clean out the fireplace is the shop vacuum. Here again due to the use of plastic flexible hose and plastic parts, it is necessary to wait till the fire has gone out completely in order to avoid possible incineration or at least damage to the elements of the vacuum cleaner.
There is therefore, a need for a combination device that can both clean out the residues from a fireplace, and at the same time provide temporary storage for these residues.
It is an object of this invention therefore to provide a shovel type device that has a storage means attached thereto for the cleansing of residues from the fireplace and the temporary disposition of same.
It is another object to provide a severable two component fireplace cleaning device one of which components is in the format of a shovel and the other is in the format of a storage means.
It is another object of this invention to provide a fireplace cleaning tool that is easy to use and which allows for the storage of fireplace waste products such that continuous use of the fireplace can take place.
Yet another object is to provide a fireplace cleaning tool that permits the removal and substantially dust free transfer of ashes and other debris from the fireplace to a temporary storage means.
A still further object is to provide a fireplace cleaning device that can be easily stored in the household by occupying a minimum amount of floor space.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the product possessing the features, properties and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It is to be noted that with respect to the instant device the terms wood stove and fireplace can be used interchangably since the use of the instant device with either is the same.